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9.8
CRITICAL CVSS 3.0
CVE-2017-6542
PuTTY SSH RCE Buffer Overflow
Description

The ssh_agent_channel_data function in PuTTY before 0.68 allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact via a large length value in an agent protocol message and leveraging the ability to connect to the Unix-domain socket representing the forwarded agent connection, which trigger a buffer overflow.

INFO

Published Date :

March 27, 2017, 5:59 p.m.

Last Modified :

April 20, 2025, 1:37 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !

Source :

[email protected]
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2017-6542 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Opensuse leap
1 Putty putty
1 Opensuse_project leap
: Total Affected Vendor : 3 | Products : 3
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 2.0 HIGH [email protected]
CVSS 3.0 CRITICAL [email protected]
Solution
This vulnerability can be remediated by updating the affected PuTTY packages.
  • Upgrade to the latest version of PuTTY.
  • Update the affected package.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2017-6542 has a 2 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2017-6542.

URL Resource
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-03/msg00055.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/vuln-agent-fwd-overflow.html Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97156 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038067
https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201703-03 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201706-09
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42137/
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-03/msg00055.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/vuln-agent-fwd-overflow.html Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97156 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038067
https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201703-03 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201706-09
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42137/
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2017-6542 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2017-6542 weaknesses.

CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-44: Overflow Binary Resource File Overflow Binary Resource File CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-100: Overflow Buffers Overflow Buffers CAPEC-123: Buffer Manipulation Buffer Manipulation

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Profile Photo
kaleShashi/PuTTY

None

Updated: 5 years, 3 months ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : May 14, 2020, 4:12 a.m. This repo has been linked 10 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
pbr94/PuTTy-

PuTTy, windows SSH client and about it's few vulnerabilities.

Updated: 1 year, 11 months ago
1 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : May 10, 2020, 2:40 a.m. This repo has been linked 10 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2017-6542 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2017-6542 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    Nov. 21, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-03/msg00055.html
    Added Reference http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/vuln-agent-fwd-overflow.html
    Added Reference http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97156
    Added Reference http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038067
    Added Reference https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201703-03
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201706-09
    Added Reference https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42137/
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 14, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Nov. 07, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference MITRE https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8 [No types assigned]
    Removed Reference MITRE https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git;a=commitdiff;h=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8
  • CPE Deprecation Remap by [email protected]

    Oct. 30, 2018

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:opensuse_project:leap:42.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* OR *cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:42.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Aug. 13, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42137/ [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jul. 12, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038067 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jul. 01, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201706-09 [No Types Assigned]
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Mar. 31, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V2 (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
    Added CVSS V3 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Changed Reference Type http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/vuln-agent-fwd-overflow.html No Types Assigned http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/wishlist/vuln-agent-fwd-overflow.html Patch, Vendor Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201703-03 No Types Assigned https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201703-03 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
    Changed Reference Type http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97156 No Types Assigned http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97156 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
    Changed Reference Type https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git;a=commitdiff;h=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8 No Types Assigned https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git;a=commitdiff;h=4ff22863d895cb7ebfced4cf923a012a614adaa8 Patch, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-03/msg00055.html No Types Assigned http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-03/msg00055.html Third Party Advisory
    Added CWE CWE-119
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:putty:putty:0.67:*:*:*:*:*:*:* (and previous)
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:opensuse_project:leap:42.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:opensuse_project:leap:42.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Mar. 30, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97156 [No Types Assigned]
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 9.8
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact
Base CVSS Score: 7.5
Access Vector
Access Complexity
Authentication
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact
Exploit Prediction

EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days.

25.84 }} -20.92%

score

0.95801

percentile